Drinking less could prevent cancer deaths, study suggests

Reducing annual alcohol consumption in Australia by one liter a person could significantly lower deaths from several major cancers, particularly among older Australians, a new study led by La Trobe University has found.

Using more than 70 years of national mortality, alcohol and tobacco consumption, and health-expenditure data, researchers examined how long-term population level alcohol consumption in Australia is associated with mortality from four alcohol-related cancers.

Published in the British Journal of Cancer, the study said that long-term alcohol exposure was a causal factor in:

• Some 45% of male upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) cancer deaths
• About 21% of female UADT cancer deaths
• About 48% of male liver cancer deaths
• About 15% of male colorectal cancer deaths and 4% for females
• 14% of female breast cancer deaths

The researchers said these estimates are higher than in previous Australian studies, reflecting the cumulative effects of decades of drinking.

The strongest alcohol-related cancer impacts were seen in people aged 50 years and older. The researchers warn that with Australia’s aging population—and older cohorts drinking more than younger ones—alcohol-related cancer deaths could rise without preventive action such as closing tax loopholes and using warning labels.

However, the researchers found that reducing alcohol consumption by one liter per person each year could lead to a reduction in alcohol-related cancer deaths of:

• 3.6% fewer UADT cancer deaths in men and 3.4% fewer in women
• 3.9% fewer male liver cancer deaths
• 1.2% fewer male colorectal cancer deaths and 0.7% fewer in women
• 2.3% fewer female breast cancer deaths

Lead author Associate Professor Jason Jiang, from La Trobe’s Department of Public Health and Center for Alcohol Policy Research (CAPR), said this was the first study to examine the associations between alcohol consumption and mortality from these cancers in Australia using long-term aggregate data.

“The study provides robust evidence that reducing population-level alcohol consumption in Australia could substantially lower mortality from UADT, colorectal, male liver and female breast cancers, particularly among older adults,” Associate Professor Jiang said.

The study said that reducing population-wide drinking through proven policies such as alcohol taxation, regulating availability and limiting advertising could deliver substantial reductions in cancer mortality.

It pointed to the Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risk from Drinking Alcohol, which state males and females should drink no more than 10 standard drinks a week and no more than four standard drinks on any one day to reduce the lifetime risk of harm attributed to alcohol, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders.

“Although the WHO states that there is no level of alcohol consumption that is safe for risk of cancer, if more of the population followed drinking guidelines it would considerably reduce the risk of developing alcohol-related cancers substantially,” Associate Professor Jiang said.

The research was conducted by La Trobe University, the University of Melbourne, Curtin University and partner institutions, using publicly available national datasets and advanced time-series modeling techniques.